I wondered if he thought it would be weird if I grabbed the flowers and threw them out of the office. Okay. No more throwing stuff.

“Should I be worried?” He faced me fully.

“Huh?”

The grin was full of boyish charm. “Do I have competition?”

It took me another moment to get what he meant, and a laugh burst out of me as I glanced at the flowers. “Yeah, I guess so.”

The flowers had to be from Dean, and that meant even though I hadn’t responded to any of the four texts he sent me, he still hadn’t gotten the message.

“I’m going to have to do something about that,” Reece said, leaning against the desk. He crossed his arms, drawing my attention to the shape of his upper arms. “Which reminds me. Back to what I’m going to do with you.” His blue eyes glimmered.

My mind jumped in the gutter.

“I didn’t drive here tonight,” he announced.

“You didn’t?”

“Nope. Went home first. That’s why I wasn’t here earlier. Needed to get changed since I was helping Dad clean out his garage. Then I got Colton to drop me off,” he explained as he tilted his head to the side. His gaze dipped, and I felt it all the way to the tips of my toes. “I’m going home with you tonight.”

Chapter 9

My heartbeat had not slowed down a moment since Reece announced he was coming home with me. Nervous energy buzzed throughout my system as I finished up my shift with . . . with Reece sitting at the bar.

Drinking water.

It didn’t take long for Jax and Nick to notice that Reece was more waiting by the bar than really hanging out.

“I feel like I’ve missed something important,” Jax commented dryly as he glanced in my direction and then back at Reece. “Like really missed something.”

Reece chuckled. “You missed everything.”

Walking by, Nick snorted.

Jax raised his brows as he grinned. “Well, it’s about damn time.”

My mouth dropped open. What the what on a monkey butt?

Reece nodded as he picked up his glass, eyeing me over the rim. There was that glint again, mischievous and boyish. “Truer words have never been spoken.”

For once in my life, I was absolutely flabbergasted, which seemed to work for everyone, because between fulfilling drink orders, Jax and Reece chatted it up. I bounced from customer to customer, excited and nervous and hopeful and a thousand other things.

He was going home with me.

I was okay with this.

I was also freaked out about this and what it meant. As I mixed drinks like a bartending ninja, I tried to remember if I shaved my legs that morning. Or if I’d have time to do a quick touch-­up in other areas. These were pressing concerns, because that’s why he had to be coming home with me, right? It wasn’t to knit a blanket at three in the morning.

Handing over a cocktail to a girl I’d seen in the bar a few times, I stole a quick glance at Reece. His head was bowed and in his hand was his cell phone. My heart stuttered in my chest as it suddenly became hard to swallow. I was totally willing to hook up with him. I mean, I’d wanted to before and this was what ­people our age did, and I’d moved on from what happened that night between us. Just thinking about being with him caused parts of my body to tighten and my breath to shorten. I’d wanted Reece since I first saw him, when I was fifteen.